There is only one way to describe yesterday’s events…what an absolute farce!

At 4pm we were all told the most fierce derby in world football was postponed as the Gloucestershire Constabulary couldn’t muster enough resources to police the match. Yet six hours later thankfully some common sense had prevailed owing to a persistent campaign by football supporters of both Swindon and Cheltenham on Twitter (below) and email, eager to forget the recent events and just watch 90 minutes of football.

Fair play to Chief Constable Tony Melville and his u-turn, but why did it need to come to this in the first place and how have the resources now been magically found from nowhere to police the match?

It is all well and good re-assessing the situation but if every other police force in England can manage to fulfill their obligations at the weekend football matches – with the understandable exception of Spurs v Everton – these events show how amateur the decision making is in the Gloucestershire Constabulary. Cheltenham versus Swindon is never a high risk game, with the decision earlier shocking Chief Executive Nick Watkins who emphasised all previous seven fixtures had never been tarnished by trouble.

I can’t be there, so hope you all enjoy the game and show why the police needn’t worry about this fixture anyway.